MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful cartel leader and one of the United States’ most wanted fugitives on Sunday, notching a major victory while cartel members responded with a wave violence across the country.

The killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes during an attempt to capture him in Jalisco state was the highest-profile blow against cartels since the recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade ago.

Following Oseguera Cervantes’ death, gunmen unleashed violence across the country. Cars burned out by cartel members blocked roads in 20 Mexican states and left smoke billowing into the air. People locked themselves in their homes in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and Jalisco’s capital, and school was canceled Monday in several states as security forces were placed on alert all over the country. Even Guatemala reinforced security on its border with Mexico.

The killing could give the government a leg up in its dealings with the U.S. Trump administration, which has been threatening tariffs or unilateral military action if Mexico does not show results in the fight against the cartels.

But the long-term effect on Mexico’s security landscape remains unclear.

Here’s what to know:

‘El Mencho’ was the leader of a fast-growing criminal group

Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho,” was 59 years old and originally from the western state of Michoacan. His ties to organized crime went back at least three decades.

In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin in the U.S. and sent to prison for three years. Upon returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through Mexico’s drug trafficking underworld.

Around 2009, he founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became Mexico’s fastest-growing criminal organization, moving cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl and migrants to the United States, and innovating in violence with the use of drones and improvised explosive devices.

The cartel earned a reputation for brazen attacks on Mexican security forces, including downing a military helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 and attempting a spectacular, but unsuccessful, assassination of Mexico City Police Chief Omar García Harfuch, who is now Mexico’s federal security secretary.

It recruited aggressively, experimenting with new ways to reach potential members online, and generated revenue through fuel theft, extortion and timeshare fraud, among other activities.

Oseguera Cervantes died in a battle with troops sent to capture him

Oseguera Cervantes was killed during an attempt to capture him, as his followers attempted to fight off Mexican troops.

Mexico’s Defense Department said in a statement that the army launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state to capture Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican Air Force and special forces.

The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four members of the criminal group, and wounded three others, including its leader, who died later during transfer by air to Mexico City, according to the statement.

Three soldiers were injured and two people were detained in the action. Rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armored vehicles were seized at the scene.

Mexico is keen to show Trump results in the fight against cartels

Oseguera Cervantes’ will help Mexico’s government show results to the U.S., which is pressuring its neighbor to pursue drug cartels more aggressively. Both countries said intelligence collaboration helped lead to Sunday’s operation.

Oseguera Cervantes was facing multiple indictments in the United States and the U.S. State Department had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest. The Trump administration designated his cartel and others foreign terrorist organizations a year ago.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico during the first Trump administration, applauded the operation via X, writing “The good guys are stronger than the bad guys. Congratulations to the forces of law and order in the great Mexican nation.”

Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, said Mexico had sent a “a strong message to Donald Trump’s administration that they are fighting aggressively and effectively” against the most powerful cartels. He added that “the majority of the information came from the Mexican armed forces and all credit goes to Mexico.”

Cartel leader’s death leaves a power vacuum

It’s not clear who will succeed Oseguera Cervantes, or if any one person can.

The Jalisco cartel has a presence in at least 21 of Mexico’s 32 states and is active in almost all of the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. But it is also a global organization and the loss of its leader could be felt well beyond Mexico.

“El Mencho controlled everything, he was like a country’s dictator,” Vigil said.

His absence could slow the cartel’s rapid growth and expansion and leave it initially weakened against the Sinaloa cartel on several fronts where they or their proxies are fighting. The Sinaloa is locked in its own internal power struggle, however, between the sons of “El Chapo” and the faction loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who is in U.S. custody.

Vigil said Mexico should seize the moment to launch “an effective frontal assault based on intelligence.”

“This is a big opportunity for Mexico and the United States if they work together,” he said.

Security analyst David Saucedo said that if relatives of Oseguera Cervantes take control of the cartel, the violence seen Sunday could continue. If others take power, they could be more willing to turn the page and continue operations.

The greatest fear would be that the cartel turns to indiscriminate violence. They could decide to “launch narcoterrorism attacks … and generate a scenario similar to what Colombia lived in the 1990s,” a full on attack against the government “car bombs, assassinations and attacks on aircraft.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s attorney general has reopened an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein ’s former Zorro Ranch, as allegations swirl about what role the secluded spot played in sexual abuse or sex trafficking of underage girls and young women.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office said Thursday that the decision was made after reviewing information recently released by the U.S. Justice Department.

Although New Mexico’s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, state prosecutors say now that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”

The New Mexico Department of Justice said special agents and prosecutors at the agency will be seeking immediate access to the complete, unredacted federal case file and intend to work with other law enforcement partners as well as a new truth commission established by state lawmakers to look into activities at the ranch.

“As with any potential criminal matter, we will follow the facts wherever they lead, carefully evaluate jurisdictional considerations, and take appropriate investigative action, including the collection and preservation of any relevant evidence that remains available,” the New Mexico Department of Justice said in a statement.

The investigation was one of several major developments in the continuing fallout from the release of the federal government’s so-called Epstein files. Earlier Thursday, British police arrested the former Prince Andrew on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to the late sex offender.

Renewed efforts to investigate the sex trafficking allegations

In Washington, D.C., members of Congress are still working to lift the veil with more testimony from powerful people.

On Thursday, video was released of a six-hour deposition of billionaire retail mogul Les Wexner. In it, Wexner remains defiant that he didn’t know of or participate in Epstein’s crimes, and he doubles down on the fact that the two “weren’t friends.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear before the same House Oversight Committee next week, with former President Bill Clinton following the next day.

In New Mexico, the state’s truth commission had its first meeting Tuesday. Aside from looking into the abuse and trafficking allegations, New Mexico lawmakers want to know why Epstein was not registered as a sex offender in the state after pleading guilty in 2008 in Florida to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl and whether there was corruption among public officials.

Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but state prosecutors confirmed in 2019 that they had interviewed possible victims who visited the ranch south of Santa Fe. They never elaborated on how many accusers were interviewed or what they say took place at the ranch.

Also Thursday, lawyers for Epstein accusers said they’ve reached a proposed settlement in a class action lawsuit against his estate — the latest effort to compensate his victims. Pending a judge’s approval, Epstein’s estate would pay between $25 million and $35 million, depending on how many victims qualify for the settlement.

The estate previously paid 136 claimants a total of $121 million via its Epstein Victims Compensation Program and paid more than $48 million to settle claims from 59 other victims, court records show.

Property is under new ownership

Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in New Mexico in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion. Nearby was a private airstrip with a hangar and helipad. The property also included a ranch office, a firehouse and a seven-bay heated garage.

The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors — to the family of Don Huffines, a Republican running for state comptroller in Texas. In a social media post on X, Huffines said the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing and that his family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.

A spokesperson for Huffines has said that the owners have never been approached by local, state or federal law enforcement requesting access to the ranch and if they do, full cooperation will be granted.

Ranch appears many times in released documents

There are thousands of references to the ranch in the documents released by federal authorities.

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, was among the guests to have visited the ranch. Following one of the early investigations into the disgraced financier, Richardson donated $50,000 in 2006 gubernatorial campaign contributions from Epstein to charity.

Emails and schedules recently released by federal authorities also show a long list of entrepreneurs, actors and scientists were invited to the ranch over the years, including Woody Allen, Robert Redford, Reid Hoffman, Joi Ito and Peter Thiel.

New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard canceled grazing leases held by the ranch in 2019 after her office was denied access to inspect the nearly 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) of leased state land.

Garcia Richard in a letter sent last week called on federal authorities and state prosecutors to ensure a thorough criminal investigation into allegations related to the ranch. She called the allegations “deeply disturbing.”

In 2019 after Epstein’s death, a woman identified as Jane Doe said in court that he had molested her at Zorro Ranch in 2004, when she was 15. The woman recalled feeling small and powerless, describing how he laid her on the floor so she was confronted by all the framed photographs on his dresser of him smiling with wealthy celebrities and politicians.

“People deserve to know the truth about what happened on Epstein’s ranch and are looking to leaders for answers,” Garcia Richard said in a statement.